Howl: A World at War Novel (2 page)

“
How come?” Selene asked.

“
This tunnel branches off to the east. If it's anything like the western branch then there's probably another entrance. And if Ragnarok figured that out, then there's a pretty good chance we're going to end up in a nasty firefight. We'll probably want Leigh up front.”

“
Point taken. You have lead,” Selene said. It was a good observation. Leigh was an engineer and was carrying a flamethrower. She wasn't much use in an open battle, but in the confines of a tunnel she would be absolutely lethal.

They pressed forward. The tunnel was straight, with a few doors on the north side. “Ethan, keep moving forward. I'll have Gavin's squad clear out the rooms,” Selene ordered.

“Roger,” Ethan said.

Selene stopped for a moment and buzzed Miko. “Lone Wolf, can you see what Ragnarok's doing up there?”

“They're holding position,” Miko said. “And they're not being very aggressive. They seem to be grouped around a small hallway, but I can't see what's at the end of it.”

“
Do you know how many of them there are?” Selene asked.

“
Around thirty,” Miko said.

“
Crap!”

Gavin gave her a quizzical look as he prepared to search another room.

“What?” Miko asked.

“
They had more troops than that to begin with. There's no way that thirty troops could throw out that amount of firepower.”

“
What are you thinking?” Miko asked.

“
Never mind, just keep watch.” She switched channels. “Ethan, Gavin, I think that Ragnarok found their way down here. We might have some company pretty soon.”

“
Roger,” Ethan said, though he sounded like he was distracted. Selene could see that his squad had stopped. They were grouped around a hole in the wall. Four of them moved in.

“
Cover! COVER!” she suddenly heard one of them shout. A second later there was a series of loud, heavy-sounding bangs.

“
Alpha 2, what was that?”

“
I'm not sure,” Ethan said. “Terra's fireteam went first, but I can't see them. We're next to a parking garage or something.”

“
Terra, you there?” Selene asked as she switched channels.

“
Yeah, but we're pinned down in cover,” she said. “I think we found where the schematic is, 'cause there's an auto-turret with an autocannon mounted on the ceiling. It's right in front of a door.

“
Can you take it out?” Selene asked.

“
It looks like it's armored, and we don't have great weapons for dealing with that,” she said. “We don't have enough space to fire the recoilless rifle unless we stand in the middle of the garage, and that's suicide.”

“
Think you can hit it with a grenade launcher?” Selene asked.

“
Maybe, but that's going to be tough. And I think we're going to have to use armor-piercing rounds,” Terra warned.

“
Alright,” Selene said. Jade was the only one in the platoon with a grenade launcher, and she only had a few armor-piercing rounds. They were extremely expensive, and they had very limited use. Most of the time it was better to carry the more common high-explosive ones.

The cannon suddenly fired again. Selene had been on the receiving end of four autocannons once; her entire team had been wiped out. It had sounded like a massive sewing machine. This cannon fire much slower, but it sounded like it had a lot more power as well.

“It's not firing at us,” Terra said. “Crap. I think Rangarok is coming in from another part of the garage.

The cannon fired again.

“I'm moving in,” Ethan said. The rest of his squad went through the hole in the wall.

“
Us next?” Gavin asked.

Selene nodded. “Let's try to get as many troops in there as possible while that thing is distracted.”

Selene went in first, followed by the rest of Gavin's squad. Ethan's squad was in cover behind broken down cars and concrete barriers. She noted how thick the cover was. The cannon could probably penetrate anything short of a half dozen cars lined up in a row.

“
Do you see them?” Selene asked as she slid in next to Terra. From her position she could see that the entrance to the garage was covered in rubble.

“
They're over on the south side of the garage. The cannon is focusing in on them. I think they tried to hit it with an RPG,” Terra said. “I'd take the opportunity to destroy it, but I think they have us outnumbered.”

“
Let's see if we can get some help,” Selene said. “Raider Lead, Raider Lead, are you in position?”

The line was silent for a moment. “Alpha Wolf, we're about to come in through the east entrance,” Cody said.

“We're in a basement parking garage,” Selene said. “Ragnarok's here too. There should be a hallway up on your level that branches off of the main mall. I believe that there's a stairwell at the end of it. If you can come down then you can ambush them from behind.”

“
Sounds good,” Cody said.

“
There's a computer controlled autocannon down here,” she said. “Tell us right before you come down the stairs, and we'll blast the thing.”

“
Make sure you time it right,” Cody said.

The cannon fired again.

“Jade, load up an armor-piercing round. Hit the turret on my signal,” Selene said. “We-”

The auto-turret suddenly exploded.

“Crap! Ragnarok took it out with an RPG!” Terra said.

“
Switch plans. Fire! Fire on them!” Selene said. Her platoon complied. “Cody! Ragnarok took down the auto-turret!” she shouted over the din of gunfire. “We need backup now!”

“
Copy,” Cody replied tersely. A second later, the ceiling shook.

“
No sense of subtlety,” Gavin said.

“
Terra, follow me with your fireteam. We're going to try to get the schematic. The rest of you, cover us,” Selene said.

“
You're not going to have enough time to get the door open,” Gavin warned.

“
I'll take care of that,” Jade said. She loaded up a grenade into her launcher and fired.

“
Cover us!” Selene shouted as she fired a burst and then sprinted for the open doorway. It had been blasted off of its hinges by an armor-piercing round. Terra followed close behind her, firing off bursts with her machine gun. Leo, Riley and Gabby followed close behind.

Selene charged and shoved the door aside with her shoulder. She stumbled, but caught herself. Sure enough, there was a schematic sitting on a table at the end of the small room.

“All leaders, we have the schematic, but we're pinned down,” Selene said.

“
Do you need help?” Logan asked.

“
Negative. Marauder should be coming,” Selene said. “Help them clear the top floors so we can get out of here quick.”

There was an explosion, and several friendly markers on the radar disappeared.

“Alpha 1 is down!” Lyla said. “I'll try to patch him up, but he's hurt bad.”

“
Understood,” Selene said. She tossed the schematic over to Terra. “Keep that safe at any cost. If you're the only one who manages to get away with it in hand, so be it. It's still a victory.”

“
What are you going to do?” Terra asked.

Selene didn't answer. She fired off the remains of her magazine and reloaded. Then she crouched, getting ready to sprint.

“You're not going to try it,” Terra said incredulously.

“
Give me as much cover as you can, but if you need to, barricade yourselves in here until Marauder shows up.”

“
You're crazy,” Riley said.

“
I'm coming across! Cover fire!”

Selene sprinted across the open area of the parking garage. Bullets came her way, but they were off target, and then they stopped. Ethan was leaning over a concrete barrier, blazing away with his machine gun. Selene jumped into cover behind a car.

“Jade, Mara, Kelsey, rally on my position,” she ordered.

The three made their way over to her. Jade was an engineer, with dark brown skin, black hair cut into a bob and a set of armor plates to protect her chest and shoulders. Mara was a soldier, like Selene, tall with long brunette hair and pale skin. Kelsey was an assault, short and thin with mid-length blonde hair. Selene had taken to using them as a fireteam whenever she needed one.

“Ethan, give us some more cover fire on my signal,” Selene ordered. “Us four are going to assault their main line.”

“
Really? A suicide mission?” Kelsey asked.

“
They have a lot of firepower. If we don't take it out we're in for a world of hurt,” Selene said. “We're going to get within grenade range and then we're going to let them have it.”

There was a loud, distinctive crack. “Alpha Wolf, they have a sniper,” Ethan warned.

“That puts a damper on things,” Selene said.

“
Alpha 1, do you know where that came from?” Jade asked.

“
See the red SUV? I think the sniper is inside of it.”

Jade loaded a grenade into her launcher. “Well, that's easy enough.” She fired off the round, and the SUV wasn't there anymore. Shrapnel flew everywhere. One piece slammed into the side of the vehicle they were sheltering behind.

Another explosion went off. “Well, that just made them angry,” Ethan said.

“
Cover us. NOW!” Selene ordered. Her team charged out of cover and raced across the empty space between the two lines. Selene was the first to reach the concrete barrier in front of the Ragnarok positions. She got into cover and then opened fire on full auto.

“
Should be good enough,” Mara said as she joined her. Kelsey and Jade were a split-second behind her.

“
Start tossing them before they figure out why we're here,” Selene said. She grabbed a grenade off her belt, pulled the pin and lobbed it toward the Ragnarok positions. The rest of them followed suit.

“
Alpha Wolf, can you hold your fire? We're about to come down,” Cody said.

“
We're lobbing grenades,” Selene told him. We'll throw another round, and then you can storm the place when they go off.”

“
Got it,” Cody said.

“
Ethan, Marauder is coming down the stairs. Make sure to watch your fire.”

“
Copy that, Alpha Wolf.”

Selene took another grenade off of her belt. “Is everyone ready?” The rest of them nodded. “Throw!”

Four grenades flew toward Ragnarok's line. Selene didn't watch them. There was too much risk of being shot in the head. Then a series of four explosions went off.

There was a deafening wave of gunfire in front of them, that grew louder and louder. And then there was silence.

“Clear!” a voice shouted.

Selene stood up. “Took your time getting here,” she commented.

“I'm sorry, I'll let them shoot you up next time,” Cody said. “Do you have the schematic?”

“
Terra does,” she said.

“
Good, because we need to go. Ragnarok is pushing David's group really hard.”

She nodded and activated her radio. “Good job, everyone. Now let's get out of here.”

CHAPTER 2

First Founding

“
You're kidding me,” Zach said.

“
It's a schematic for a small helicopter,” Yusuf said. “Not the biggest thing, but it'll be useful nonetheless.”

“
Can you build it?” Zach asked.

Yusuf grinned. “Can you fly it is the better question.”

Zach nodded as he looked around. The scent of metal, fire and smoke filled the air. Hephaestus Forge was busy, churning out ammunition, vehicles and weapons to feed the war effort. Lerna Bastion's stocks were remaining steady, but they were still busy. The fighting was tearing through equipment at a frightening rate.

“
I'm guessing that it runs like the other vehicles in the game, so provided we have someone who knows how to fly a helicopter we can train others to fly as well,” Zach said. “Do you know what it's supposed to be used for?” He hadn't looked over the schematic yet.

“
Well, there's seating for two inside the cockpit. But there's the option to mount bench seats on the stub wings, so you can put up to six people on them as well.”

“
I assume there's seat belts?” Zach said.

“
That would be a safe assumption,” Yusuf confirmed. “There's also four weapons mounts on the stub wings, so we can turn it into a gunship if we want.”

“
Is it armored?”

“
Yeah, but it's a helicopter. It's not going to stand up to withering fire,” Yusuf said.

“
So we have water and air capabilities now,” Zach mused. Redd Foxx Company had come across a schematic for a fast river craft when they were exploring the south. Hephaestus had built two prototypes, but they hadn't found much use for them yet.

“
The question now is how do we use them?” Yusuf said.

That was certainly something that needed to be considered. Hydra's original objective had been to capture a large city so they could be free from Ragnarok encroachment, but the fighting had derailed those plans. Most of Hydra's strength was needed to defend their territory. Redd Foxx was still scouting to the south, but right now the prospects seemed doubtful. They simply didn't have enough troops.

Hydra had grown over the last few months, recruiting more players into the existing companies as well as welcoming several new ones. Their strength was nearing a thousand members. They were large, but Ragnarok was much, much bigger, with almost three thousand members. But something interesting had happened in the past few months. Before the war, Ragnarok had been absorbing other companies at will. Hydra itself had been formed in order to resist its encroachment. But ever since the fighting began, Ragnarok had been unable to take over more than a few. Zach guessed it was because their forces were stretched as well. Pulling troops away from the fight with Hydra or Ronin could spell doom for them on one front, and the smaller companies now knew that they could ask for help. Hydra had aided a few companies in order to weaken Ragnarok's position, and now they were very wary.

“
Any ideas?” Zach asked.

Yusuf shook his head. “Not my area of expertise. Maybe the rest of the council will have some ideas.”

Zach's wrist alert went off. He activated his radio. “Wolf Lead.”

“
Zach, can you get up to the council room at headquarters? Anna, Liz and Robbie want to go over something with us,” Nora said on the other end of the line.

“
Alright, I'll be there in a minute,” Zach said. “I've been summoned,” he told Yusuf.

“
Have fun. I'll see what else I can dig up on the chopper,” he said.

Zach left the Forge and headed for the four story building in the center of town that served as Hydra HQ. He wondered just what the others wanted. Anna was the commander of Redd Foxx company, and Liz was her second. They had formed a close bond with Black Wolf, and Zach liked working with them. He didn't know Robbie nearly as well. He was the commander of Raven Company. They were newcomers, and only had around twenty members. Black Wolf hadn't worked with them much.

The HQ was abuzz with activity as he entered. He passed Lee of Crimson Eagle on the way to the stairs and gave him a friendly greeting. Then it was up to the fourth level. Zach hurried down the halls and reached the double doors. The rest of them were waiting inside, seated at the long table.

“
Sorry to grab you on such short notice,” Anna said. She and Liz were still dressed in their field camo, he noticed.

“
No problem,” Zach said. “What's up?”

“
We were having a brainstorming session, and I think we might have something,” Nora said.

Zach took a seat next to her. “What were you brainstorming about?”

“The two schematics we found,” Liz said. “They're going to be very useful.”

“
How much do you know about them?” Zach asked.

“
We know that we have a river craft and a helicopter to work with,” Anna said.

“
Why was I the last one to find out about the helicopter?” Zach asked.

“
We thought you looked it over on the way back,” Liz said. “I mean, it stands to reason that you'd want to know what you found.”

“
Well, we were a little busy.” Ragnarok had dogged them all the way back to the heart of their territory, trying to get the schematic. For once they had been outnumbered, but they had been determined all the same. They had finally given up once David's task force had shown up to support them.

Anna laughed. “That's true. We've been in enough hairy situations ourselves where the only thing you can do is grab whatever you came for and run.”

“So what are you getting at?”

“
We've lost sight of our objective,” Anna said. “We should be making a drive toward Indianapolis, but most of our forces are fighting up north. And we can't do the scouting by ourselves. We're good, but there have been times where we're run into trouble and don't have the fire support we need.”

“
So, what do you want to do about it?” Zach asked, still not sure what she was getting at.

“
We have an armored cavalry company already. I think we should make a ranger company as well. It would be Redd Foxx and Black Wolf,” Liz said.

“
Ah. Exactly what are you talking about when you say a ranger company?”

“
We'd be light infantry, suited for reconnaissance, raiding and the like. We're experienced enough to fight out of armored vehicles if we need to, but I think our main form of transport should be boat and helicopter. We can get where we need to fast, and we'll be able to bring heavy fire support with us,” Liz said.

“
I didn't hear Raven mentioned,” Zach said. “What's their role in all of this?”

“
They don't have a lot of troops, but I think they can be good chopper and boat crews,” Anna said.

“
Yeah, I think that's where we'll serve best,” Robbie said. “We haven't exactly been helpful.”

“
There's only so much that you can do with twenty troops. Believe me, we know all about that,” Zach said.

“
And what they can do is very important,” Nora added. “I think the mall raid would have gone much smoother if we had the choppers. It makes us a lot less vulnerable going to and from the battle zones as well.”

“
That's the choppers, but the what about the boats?” Are they really going to be all that useful?” Zach asked.

“
The White River goes right through the center of Indianapolis, and there's quite a few reservoirs as well. And did you see how many guns it can carry?” Anna pointed out.

That was definitely the selling point. Despite the fact the it would be limited to water, the sheer number of guns it could bring to bear was staggering. The craft had seven weapon mounts, and could carry ten troops in addition to the four crew. Facing down a pair of them would be completely horrifying from the other end.

“I think it's a good idea,” Zach said. “It's going to take some time to get going, though. The helicopters need to be built, and then we need trained pilots. And how are we going to structure the company? Who's going to be in command?”

“
Whoever fits,” Anna shrugged. “We've never had trouble getting along in the past. It's not like we're in the real world army.”

“
Point taken,” Zach said. “At the very least, I think we need to do some training. The battledome would be a good place.”

“
You just want the prestige title,” Nora said.

“
Hey, if we're going to be rangers we might as well get the title,” Zach shrugged. “It would be a good way to test new recruits as well.”

The Old Chicago battledome was a place that anyone could train in without fear of death. If you were killed, you simply failed the challenge you were trying to complete without losing any experience points. You didn't gain any experience points either, but it was a good place to learn how to shoot and to try new tactics. There were also high level challenges to complete, which allowed winners to wear titles on their uniforms. They didn't actually serve any purpose other than bragging rights, but they were a source of pride and were highly coveted.

“So, should everyone in the company have to complete the ranger challenge?” Nora asked.

Liz nodded. “I think it's a good idea. We're going to have to do a lot of fighting cut off from support, so it makes sense that everyone should be able to do it.”

“What happens if they fail?” Robbie asked.

“
Then they don't make the cut,” Liz shrugged. “We can form them into a reserve group, and they can keep trying until they make it.”

“
That's a bit harsh,” Robbie said.

“
Everyone needs to be able to pull their weight,” Liz replied.

“
Plus, you can complete the challenge as a group,” Nora said. “We should test by squad. That's how we're going to be fighting, so that's the way that we should succeed as well.”

“
Just one problem,” Liz pointed out.

“
What's that?”

“
Anna and I don't have squads.”

“
Neither do we,” Nora said. “So let's see, there's us five, Danny, Selene and Miko that don't have squads. That gives us eight people. More than enough to make a good squad. And we even cover all the classes.”

“
That sounds like it'll work,” Liz agreed.

“
I seem to remember getting shot the last time we were in the same squad,” Zach said to Anna.

She laughed. “And I got good experience for patching you up, so I'm not seeing the downside.”

Zach laughed as well and shook his head. “Well, I can't complain too much. We should be able to take care of the challenge just fine.”

“
Why do I get the feeling that this is going to turn into one of super teams that should crush everything, but doesn't 'cause they can't get along,” Robbie commented

“
Why, are you going to be a problem?” Liz asked sarcastically.

“
Nope, just seems like the plot of every single team movie,” Robbie laughed.

“
Good thing we're not in one of those movies,” Zach said.

“
Do you have time later to do some training together?” Anna asked.

“
Unfortunately, no. We have plans,” Nora said.

“
Um, so do I,” Liz said.

“
What do you have going on?” Anna asked.

“
Same thing as us,” Zach said.

Anna smiled. “Ah. Danny's included, I assume?”

“That would be correct,” Nora said.

“
Great, announce it to everyone,” Liz muttered to no one in particular.

“
Wait, so are you dating one of their members?” Robbie asked.

“
Sort of.”

“
Sort of? Oh good lord, it's like I'm in high school all over again,” Robbie said. “And here I thought I was done with all the drama.”

“
OK, so maybe we're in a romantic comedy,” Zach said.

“
So apparently we're the normal, stable couple in all of this?” Nora commented. “That's reassuring.”

“
I can totally see it now,” Anna laughed. “Are we going to lose the battle challenge because you and Danny have relationship problems and can't get along?”

Liz rubbed her hands over her eyes. “I hate you all right now,” she said. Zach could see that she was trying to keep from laughing.

“I think we can get some training done tomorrow,” Nora said. “We have plenty of time, unless Hephaestus figures out how to build twenty choppers overnight.”

“
One thing though. Are we going to have enough fusion batteries to power them?” Robbie asked.